Progress or Regress?

I found many aspects of chapter 1, Progress or Regress, to be very interesting and thought provoking. On page 14, there is the statement, “since the expectations and experiences of people differ, so do their appraisals of whether things are getting better or worse.” I think this is very true. For certain groups, things have definitely improved. Brown v Board of Education, PL94-142, IDEA, Title I, etc., have all improved the educational opportunities for groups of people that had been denied a fair and equal education or any at all. I also found it interesting that views that are now deemed unfavorably started out as progressive. Labeling students had initially been viewed as a progressive idea. If a student did not fit the mold, they were labeled and tracked accordingly. We now know that labeling a student can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Funding has always been an issue. It is difficult to provide a fair and equal education when funding is not fair and equal. In the 1930’s 25% of the nation’s students were educated with one-tenth of the income (p.23.) Because this segment of the population was poor, fewer funds were sent their way. This is similar to the situation today in our own state. The children of Dillon County receive fair less funding than the children of York County. Another enlightening and positive finding is that parents with children in the public schools education have a better impression of schools and education than the general public. This leads me to believe that many people are forming uneducated (how ironic) opinions based on media or other general perception. I was happy to read this, because I have always felt that my daughters were receiving very good educations, and lots of times I have felt out of stop with popular convention.